Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Cricket History - Historians have attempted to trace its origin in various ball games played by ancient races and, even if some of these derivations are a little far fetched, we can at least say that 250 years ago the game was being played in a form not so very dissimilar from that of today. Cricket, like Hockey, was brought to the Indian sub-continent by the British. There are references to cricket having being played in India in the early parts of the 18th century. By the beginning of the 19th century the game was being played in the cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

The presidency matches began in 1892-93 between Parsis and Europeans and the tournament became the Bombay Triangular, with the Hindus fielding a team in 1907-08. In 1912-13, the tournament became quadrangular with the entry of Muslims in the field. With the efforts of several Princes, H E Grant-Gloven and A S de Mellow, the national championship, the Ranji Trophy began in 1935.India played its first official Test against England in 1932.

India achived its first 'Cup' victory in international cricket in 1983 when it won the Prudential World cup beating West Indies by 43 runs at Lord's under the captaincy of Kapil Dev.

Following are the details of India's 'Cup' victories in International Cricket.

Year

Venue

Cricket Championship

1983

England

Prudential World Cup

1984

Sharjah

Asia Cup

1985

Australia

Benson and Hedges World Championship

1985

Sharjah

Rothmans Trophy

1985

Sharjah

Sharjah Cup

1988

Bangladesh

Asia Cup

1990

India

Asia Cup

1993

India

Hero Cup

1994

Sri Lanka

Singer Cup

1995

Sharjah

Asia Cup

India's Test record in cricket against other countries

Based on all Tests up to and including India vs New Zealand in India, 1995-96

Opponent

Date of 1st Test

Tests

Win

Loss

Draw

Tie

England

June 25, 1932

81

14

31

36

-

Australia

November 28, 1947

50

8

24

17

1

West Indies

Nov 10 1948

64

7

27

30

-

Pakistan

October 16, 1952

44

4

7

33

-

New Zealand

November 19, 1955

35

13

6

16

-

Sri Lanka

September 17, 1982

14

7

1

6

-

Zimbabwe

October 18, 1992

2

1

-

1

-

South Africa

November 13, 1992

4

-

1

3

-

Total

294

54

97

142

1

Cricket tournaments - Domestic seasons and tournaments

Duleep Trophy - Historical Note

The Duleep Trophy competition was started by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1961-62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic cricket - because, apart from the knock-out stages of the Ranji Trophy, that competition proved predictable, with Bombay winning for fifteen consecutive years. The Duleep was also meant to help the selectors in as- sessing form.

The original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones, play each other on a knock-out basis. From the 1993-94 season, the competition has been converted to a league format.

Ranji Trophy - Historical Note

Founded as 'The Cricket Championship of India' at a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The first Ranji Trophy fixtures took place in the 1934-35 season. The Trophy was donated by H.H. Sir Bhupendra Singh Mahinder Baha- dur, Maharajah of Patiala in memory of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar.

In the main the Ranji Trophy is composed of teams representing the states that make up India. As the political states have mul- tiplied, so have cricket teams, but not every state has a team. Some states have more than one cricket team, e.g. Maharashtra and Gujarat. There are also 'odd' teams like Railways, and Services representing the armed forces.

The various teams are grouped into zones - North, West, East, Central and South - and the initial matches are played on a league basis within the zones. The top two (till 1991-92), now top three teams from each zone then play in a national knock-out competition. If the matches are not finished they are decided on the first-innings lead.

International Cricket

International cricket in India generally does not follow a fixed pattern. For example, the English schedule under which the nation tours other countries during winter and plays at home during the summer. Generally, there has recently been a tendency to play more one-day matches than Test matches. Cricket in India is managed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the richest cricket board in the cricket world. Indian International Cricketing Squad has also provided some of the greatest players to the world. Indian cricket has a rich history.

Domestic Competitions

Ranji Trophy - Founded as 'The Cricket Championship of India' at a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The first Ranji Trophy fixtures took place in the 1934-35 season. Syed Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was the first batsman to score a century in the tournament. The Trophy was donated by H.H. Sir Bhupendra Singh Mahinder Baha-dur, Maharajah of Patiala in memory of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar. In the main, the Ranji Trophy is composed of teams representing the states that make up India. As the political states have multiplied, so have cricket teams, but not every state has a team. Some states have more than one cricket team, e.g. Maharashtra and Gujarat. There are also 'odd' teams like Railways, and Services representing the armed forces. The various teams used to be grouped into zones - North, West, East, Central and South - and the initial matches were played on a league basis within the zones. The top two (until 1991-92) and then top three teams (subsequent years) from each zone then played in a national knock-out competition. Starting with the 2002-03 season, the zonal system has been abandoned and a two-division structure has been adopted with two teams being promoted from the plate league and two relegated from the elite league. If the knockout matches are not finished they are decided on the first-innings lead.

Irani Trophy - The Irani Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970 and a keen patron of the game. The first match, played between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Rest of India was played in 1959-60. For the first few years, it was played at the fag end of the season. Realising the importance of the fixture, the BCCI moved it to the beginning of the season. Since 1965-66, it has traditionally heralded the start of the new domestic season. The Irani Trophy game ranks very high in popularity and importance. It is one of the few domestic matches that is followed with keen interest by cricket lovers in the country. Leading players take part in the game which has often been a sort of selection trial to pick the Indian team for foreign tours.

Vijay Hazare Trophy- named after the prolific Indian batsman, the Vijay Hazare Trophy was started in 2002-03 as an attempt to bring the limited-overs game among a greater audience. The competition involves state teams from the Ranji trophy plates battling out in a 50-over competition, much on the lines of Ford Ranger Cup of Australia and Friends Provident Trophy of England. Since its conception, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai have won the trophy twice each. It is also dubbed as the Premier Cup by BCCI. It now joins Deodhar Trophy as the second one-day competition of Indian domestic circuit.

Duleep Trophy - The Duleep Trophy competition, a first-class competition, was started by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1961-62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic cricket - because, apart from the knock-out stages of the Ranji Trophy, that competition proved predictable, with Bombay winning for fifteen consecutive years. The Duleep was also meant to help the selectors in assessing form. The original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones, play each other on a knock-out basis. From the 1993-94 season, the competition has been converted to a league format.

Deodhar Trophy - Started in 1973-74 by Board of Control for Cricket in India, it is the current one-day cricket competition in Indian domestic cricket. 5 zonal teams - North zone, South zone, East zone, West zone and Central zone feature in the competition. North zone have won this competition 11th time. It is also called All-Star Series due to some big names representing their Zonal sides in the one-day fixtures.

Challenger series - Started as the Challenger series by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1994-95 and later named as NKP Salve Challenger Trophy in 1998-99, the tournament features 3 teams: India senior, India A and India B playing each other. They were later renamed India Blue, India Red and India Green respectively. This competition also marked as the platform of return for some big names like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in 2005-06 season after they battled injury and form respectively. The tournament features the top 36 players from across India and is also the most popular domestic structure after IPL.

Inter-State T20 Championship - After India became another member of the ICC Twenty20 and played its first international T20 against South Africa, BCCI launched its own state structure in 2006-07 season, with 27 Ranji teams divided in 5 Zones. The final was played between Punjab and Tamil Nadu, which the latter won by 2 wickets and 2 balls remaining, thereby becoming the only ever winner of this series. In this series, Rohit Sharma also became the only ever Indian to register a T20 century for Mumbai against Gujarat. The competition was later replaced by a franchise-based IPL.

Indian Premier League - In response to the rival ICL, the BCCI started the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (known as the IPL). This League has been launched by BCCI have received support from all the other Cricket Boards, and International Players could be drafted into City-based Franchises. The game has been likened to Baseball with crowd participation encouraged more strongly than in other forms of the game.It has been greatly acknowledged by people and has made huge profits.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - To be played for the first time in the 2008-09 season, this will be the first of its kind zonal T20 championship and the third overall in the Indian cricket season, which would see Ranji teams divided along zonal lines into two groups with the tournament culminating in the All India T20 final between the winners of the two groups for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Launched after the success of the IPL and the need of the BCCI to search for more talent in the growing regions of cricket.